Uhm Tae-woong

1998–2004: Struggling actor

Uhm Tae-woong was unsure which college course to take, so he initially joined Kyungmin College's theater department because his crush was there. But even after the girl shifted majors, Uhm stayed after having befriended a fellow student who would become his current manager, and began acting in earnest.^[1]

Uhm made his acting debut in 1998 at the age of 24, and began playing bit parts and supporting roles in films, television dramas and music videos. Among these was the 2003 blockbuster Silmido, in which he played a member of a suicide commando unit trained to kill Kim Il-sung in the 1960s. Starring veteran actors Sul Kyung-gu and Ahn Sung-ki, Silmido drew over 10 million admissions, and Ahn encouraged Uhm, saying he "would turn into a true actor."^{[citation needed]} Uhm continued to go on auditions with little success, partly from the long shadow cast by his older sister, popular singer-actress Uhm Jung-hwa.^[2]

Then in 2004, Uhm played a dying man in the acclaimed Drama City episode Blue Skies of Jeju Island, a well-received performance for which he won his first acting trophy at the 2004 KBS Drama Awards.

2005: Breakthrough

Uhm began his rise to popularity with the 2005 romantic comedy series Sassy Girl Chun-hyang, a modern retelling of the classic Korean folktale Chunhyangjeon. But instead of the villainous magistrate of the folktale, Uhm played a talent agency executive who becomes obsessed with the heroine.^[3]

But it was Resurrection later that year that cemented his stardom. He had originally been cast as the antagonist, but after lead actor Park Yong-woo dropped out three weeks before filming due to scheduling conflicts, director Park Chan-hong took a risk and cast Uhm as the protagonist.^[4] Playing dual roles as two very different identical twins, one of whom embarks on a quest for revenge, it was Uhm's first leading role in a TV series.^[5] Despite low ratings, Resurrection was a critical hit and gained a cult following, and one review praised Uhm for "the kind of acting expected from Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik," not from a young little-known actor who'd previously appeared in a few projects in supporting roles.^[6][7] His growing fanbase nicknamed him "the UhmForce" (derived from Star Wars), and he received an Excellence Award from the 2005 KBS Drama Awards and a Best TV Actor nomination from the 2006 Baeksang Arts Awards.^[8]

2006–2008: Leading roles continue

In 2006, he and Resurrection leading lady Han Ji-min were cast in Wolf, but an on-set accident that injured Han and co-star Eric Mun led to production being halted and the series was cancelled after airing only three episodes.^[2][9] Uhm moved on to Stranger Than Paradise, in which he played the manager of a singer, the same woman his long-lost brother also falls in love with. He also joined the ensemble cast of Kim Tae-yong's critically acclaimed film Family Ties, playing a reckless but charming man who suddenly shows up at his sister's door with a live-in partner 20 years his senior. For this role, Uhm won Best New Actor at the Chunsa Film Art Awards.

In 2007, Uhm, reunited with Resurrection's director Park Chan-hong and writer Kim Ji-woo in Lucifer, the second in Park and Kim's noir vengeance trilogy that explore the conflict between good and evil, and sin and punishment. He gave another memorable lead performance as a detective hunting down a serial killer while attempting to atone for his past. Uhm also starred in December romance My Love, in which his character is a Free Hugs activist who returns to Korea after six years overseas in the hopes of finding his ex-girlfriend.

Finally no longer known as simply "Uhm Jung-hwa's kid brother,"^[2] he continued building a diverse filmography in 2008. In Yim Soon-rye's sleeper hit Forever the Moment, Uhm played the tough coach of the National Women's Handball Team (and received a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the Blue Dragon Film Awards). In Lee Joon-ik's Sunny, he played a newly married Korean soldier conscripted during the Vietnam War. And in Iri, he played a cab driver taking care of his mentally impaired sister in the aftermath of the Iri Station Explosion.

2009–2010: Ratings and box-office success

In 2009, Uhm played a celebrity manager who is threatened by an unknown man and driven to the extremes in Handphone.^[10] This was followed by the black comedy Chaw, in which his character is a policeman battling with a mutant boar. Uhm then starred as 7th-century Silla general Kim Yushin in the popular period drama Queen Seondeok, for which he received a Top Excellence Award at the 2009 MBC Drama Awards.^[11][12][13]

Romantic comedy Cyrano Agency was the 8th most commercially successful Korean film of 2010, and in it, Uhm played a theater actor-turned-dating coach whose ex-girlfriend is being pursued by his client.^[14][1] While in Dr. Champ, after his character's ice hockey career was ended by injury, he became a cranky sports medicine doctor reminiscent of Gregory House.^[15]

2011–2013: Reality show

In 2011, Uhm joined the cast of 2 Days & 1 Night, a popular variety-reality show which travels throughout Korea, featuring small towns and their inhabitants.^[16] Through it, viewers discovered the real-life shy, dorky personality behind Uhm's intense screen persona.^[17]

Meanwhile, he continued with his acting projects. He acted opposite 2 Days & 1 Night co-star Joo Won in S.I.U., as two detectives who team up against corruption in their ranks.^[18]

In 2012, Uhm played one half of a quirky terminally ill couple in Never Ending Story,^[19][20][21] and an architect building his first love's house in Architecture 101 (the latter was a box-office hit, breaking records at the time as the top-grossing Korean melodrama of all time).^[22]

He returned to television in another revenge-themed drama, Man from the Equator. Uhm drew praise for his performance as a blind man, and received an Excellence Award from the 2012 KBS Drama Awards, as well as a Best TV Actor nomination from the 2013 Baeksang Arts Awards.^{[23][24][25][26]}

In 2013, he made a guest appearance in Joo Won's spy comedy series 7th Grade Civil Servant. Uhm then reunited with Man from the Equator director Kim Yong-soo in The Blade and Petal, a period drama set in Goguryeo. He played Yeon Gaesomun's fictional illegitimate son who has a forbidden romance with the princess whose father, the king, was killed by Yeon in a coup.^[27][28]

Veteran actor Park Joong-hoon then cast Uhm in the lead role in Park's directorial debut Top Star. He played a manager who dreams of becoming an actor.^[29][30]

Later that year, Uhm left 2 Days & 1 Night along with other regulars Lee Soo-geun, Sung Si-kyung, and Yoo Hae-jin.^[31]

2014: Cable dramas

In early 2014, Uhm played an arrogant film director who falls in love with a divorcee in Can We Fall in Love, Again?, which aired on cable channel jTBC.

This was followed later in the year by Righteous Love from tvN, in which his character's marriage is put to the test after his wife has an affair, so as a marine researcher he sets out to prove that her new romance is "invalid."^[32]

2015: Back to variety

In January 2015, Uhm and his daughter Ji-on began appearing in The Return of Superman, a reality show in which male celebrities take care of their young children for 48 hours.^[33] He left the program in October 2015.

Film

Television series

Variety show

Music video appearances